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Granger to miss 4-6 weeks

E-mail I just received:

Tony,

As a friend of the franchise, we wanted you to be the first to know that Danny Granger will miss a minimum of four to six weeks with a torn right plantar fascia. No surgery will be required and rehabilitation begins immediately.
Granger, who has been bothered by the heel bruise since the preseason, aggravated the problem early in the third quarter Saturday night in the Pacers' 88-72 loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles.

Alright, folks. Time to close up shop. There it goes. No playoffs this year. Send in the clowns, and not Hicks. He scares the childrens.

Re: Granger to miss 4-6 weeks

All things considered, this is probably closer to good news than bad news.

"Ever wonder what it's like to wonder what it's like to wonder, they get up out of bed but can't awaken from their slumber, they know what they've been told by those who know what they've been told, you see this hand me down knowledge generated ages ago, and I know what they've been told because I've been told the same thing, I had to broaden my horizons to expand on greater things..." Many Styles

Re: Granger to miss 4-6 weeks

Danny Granger left Conseco Fieldhouse without comment Monday afternoon. But how he left the arena, and where he was going, said a lot.

After watching practice from the sideline with his bruised right heel in ice, Granger left the practice court on crutches, bypassing the media and saying only, "I've got to go get my MRI."

The results of that MRI led the Pacers to announce Tuesday that Granger will miss a minimum of four-to-six weeks with a torn right plantar fascia (the tissue that supports the arch of the foot).

"No surgery will be required," said the advisory issued by the team, "and rehabilitation begins immediately."

Even before he knew the results of the MRI, Coach Jim O'Brien said Monday after practice he was preparing to be without the team's leading scorer for awhile.

"That's my mindset," O'Brien said. "I'd like to be pleasantly surprised, but I'm preparing for the worst."

Granger's absence will deal a major blow to a struggling offense. He's the team's leading scorer (24.4) and biggest 3-point threat. In fact, other than Granger (who's hitting .356 from the arc), the Pacers are shooting 27.1 percent.

The most likely candidates to replace Granger in the lineup will be either Brandon Rush or Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy has been limited to roughly 20 minutes in his first five games since returning from a length rehab from knee surgery.

"We're going to have to (adjust) because he's our leading scorer," said T.J. Ford. "That's 20-something points that'll be gone. Collectively, it's not one individual that's going to be able to make up those points. It's going to take multiple people to make up for it.

"It gives the next person an opportunity to step up. You've got a lot of guys, Brandon Rush, Luther Head, guys you have to call upon to come out and be productive. So this'll give those guys an opportunity."

Granger, who has been bothered by the heel bruise since the preseason, aggravated the problem early in the third quarter Saturday night in the Pacers' 88-72 loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles. On a drive into the middle, he pulled up lame, lost the ball and dropped to the floor. He was helped off the court by trainers Josh Corbeil and Carl Eaton and did not return to the game.

Granger missed the Pacers' 86-73 victory over the Clippers on Nov. 25 in Conseco Fieldhouse with a sprained knee. The Pacers are 14-8 all-time in games Granger has missed.

Re: Granger to miss 4-6 weeks

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Maybe I'm mistaken, but is anyone else concerned that the plantar fascia tear is separate from Danny's heel injury and more closely relatedto the foot injury he had last year? I'm wondering if this was an overcompensation injury.

Like UB said this could linger a long time. Croshere had Jay's injury and I remember it nagging him for longer than a month.

I think the bigger problem is that someone in our organization needs to step up and sit players down against their will when they are clearly injured. It seems to always lead to more serious injuries. This feels like JO Part III.

Re: Granger to miss 4-6 weeks

Maybe I'm mistaken, but is anyone else concerned that the plantar fascia tear is separate from Danny's heel injury and more closely relatedto the foot injury he had last year? I'm wondering if this was an overcompensation injury.

Like UB said this could linger a long time. Croshere had Jay's injury and I remember it nagging him for longer than a month.

I think the bigger problem is that someone in our organization needs to step up and sit players down against their will when they are clearly injured. It seems to always lead to more serious injuries. This feels like JO Part III.

Plantar facisiatis is also called "heel spurs". I hadn't connected that this was Danny's injury until today.

This is what Rik Smits had and it was really debilitating.

I'm assuming this is all the same injury, and since the cure is rest so - no surprise - it wasn't getting any better/ less painful and then in LA it got so bad that it tore.

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

The Following User Says Thank You to Shade For This Useful Post:

Re: Granger to miss 4-6 weeks

I am no medical expert, but I wonder if sitting Danny for a longer time earlier would have prevented the injury from ever getting this bad. That being said I do not trust our medical staff between their handling of Danny and JO.

However long Danny is gone, I hope he is as closed to 100% as humanly possible when he comes back.

If Dahntay does not recover his ability to score and Luther Head is not a consistent force off the bench (which is what I expect) we will be lucky to win 2-3 games over a 6 week stretch.

Re: Granger to miss 4-6 weeks

Danny is tough as nails, I bet he played when most guys wouldn't have. This is actually exciting to me for the team. It's an opportunity to see what you have. I could see this as a turning point for the franchise in a number of ways.

More responsibility for other guys-expediting growth chance.

Chance to (i know no one wants to here this) solidfy a difference maker player or have a high draft pick chip to trade.

Chance to show case other potential trade chips in Murphy, Foster, and Dunleavy.

I'm not being negative, actually the opposite. I don't think the playoffs where in the cards and I think the young players need to develop.

Very worse case scenario, you find out the young players are not as far as you would have hoped and maybe you start to find out what you have to do for the future.

I think this gives Obie more time, but you know any coaching move at this point is cosmetic, since the pieces aren't in place anyway.

Lastly, Conseco could see some horrible attendance the next few months, but really that's where it was headed anyway.

I'd say this could be positive, yes, let's accelerate some development.

Re: Granger to miss 4-6 weeks

I'm writing off the 6-5 Falcons because of Matt Ryan's turf toe. I had turf toe in 2007. It's the most secretly debilitating injury other than broken ribs. Just to make sure of this, I e-mailed America's favorite injury expert (Will Carroll) for his take. His response: "Yes, but it's tied with plantar fasciitis." Which, by the way, secretly crippled Eli Manning this season. And just to complete the trifecta, Matt Hasselbeck was never the same this year after he broke two ribs. So there.

Re: Granger to miss 4-6 weeks

To those "fire O'Brien" people with Granger out with an injury, it just gave O'Brien a security blanket to finish out the season as coach. I really expected it anyway. Next year is a totally different story.

I know I don't really want to see games where Troy Murphy is getting 36 minutes and Roy Hibbert getting 13. I do know that. I think we would be very ignorant as an organization to not make this a positive as Speed mentioned.

Play the young guys is actually the best thing we can do. We need a year where we are a bad team. This mediocrity every year has crippled us with role players all over our roster. We did well with Granger, yes, and I am a big fan of Rush and Hibbert as well. If we can be a legitimate bottom tier team for one year while Granger misses significant time, we will get a top 7 or so draft pick in this upcoming draft. This draft is LOADED with bigs. We could use a top of the line talent at PF and then rely on Hansborough coming off the bench. It would give us the depth and talent we so desperately need. Let's hope we can do something with Troy because his contract (among others) is taking away any flexibility we have going into next year (and he seems more tradable than anybody else).

I am not for tanking. But this now becomes a discussion of where is this team going? We need to be moving forward. Making good and difficult decisions that are for the long-term. We don't need to win an extra 5 games this year. That won't help the organization. We are still mediocre with those extra five wins.